bond university's the arch - winter 2015

WINTER | 2015

AlanBond

1 9 3 8 - 2 0 1 5

V A L E

ALUMNI from across the world celebrated their alma mater at a jam-packed Homecoming Weekend in May.

Now an annual feature on Bond’s calendar, the four days of events provided ample professional and social settings to reunite Bondies.

The University’s early alumni, who graduated more than two decades ago, were shocked to find out they completed their degrees before some of their new friends were born.

Bound by a youthful exuberance, regardless of age, this seems to be the secret to Bond graduates making an impact on the world in fresh and creative ways.

Three alumni notably doing that are the recipients of the 2015 Alumni Awards, which was celebrated at the very beginning of Homecoming Weekend.

Professor Tim Brailsford says Bond University graduates, especially those at the top of their game, think about the world in ‘profound and different ways’, which parallels the University’s vision.

“Bond is different from the rest,” says Professor Brailsford.

“Our past hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but that often happens when you strive to be the first, which we have always done.

“We produce graduates who are leaders and thinkers, imbued with initiative and the spirit of free enterprise.

“We were created in a landscape of a largely publicly-funded, centralist-driven education system. We are an outlier but we believe the future is ours.”

This ‘future is ours’ mentality was especially clear at the Alumni Leaders Forum, which followed on from Alumni Awards as the perfect accompaniment.

Following the formation of an Alumni Advisory Board last year, an official board of alumni guiding the alumni strategy, an opportunity to recruit more passionate alumni leaders was apparent and so the Alumni Leaders Forum was born.

The inaugural Alumni Leaders Forum couldn’t have been held at a better time, that being Foundation Day, or Bond’s birthday.

With an alumni base of over 22,000 across more than 120 countries, and growing every year, now is a better time than ever in Bond’s 26th year to ensure the University’s interests are best aligned with the interests of both past and current students.

The Alumni Leaders Forum is the ideal platform for this alignment. It took place as a half-day strategic workshop where alumni from all over the world and University leaders sat together for the first time in Bond’s history to discuss how to move the institution from excellent to outstanding.

Bond University alumnus and Melbourne Chapter Committee President, Jerome Rault, who attended the Alumni Leaders Forum, stressed the importance of Foundation Day and bringing alumni back to Bond.

“Foundation Day is relevant to all Bondies as every year the University gets older, it grows and becomes more prestigious. Foundation Day serves as a reference point for how far we have come.“ says Rault.

It wouldn’t be a Bond University Foundation Day without personal development and celebration interwoven, however, and the Alumni Professional Development Workshop and Bond Friends and Family Festival proved successes for this reason.

Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr Baden U’Ren provided ample food for thought in his complimentary afternoon workshop on leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation in the workplace, which was specifically designed for alumni and students.

That night then went off with a bang, with fireworks lighting up the sky and the lake, while friends and family of Bond gathered under a marquee on the Ornamental Lawns.

It was a hard act to follow, but day three of Homecoming rolled around and once again delivered with Rugby Game Day and the Back 2 Bond Party.

Bond met the University of Queensland in a grudge match on the Rugby Field ahead of the Back 2 Bond Alumni Reunion Party which was akin to a special edition Palaver.

Homecoming wrapped up the following day with the Live at Bond music concert, now a much-loved regular on Bond’s social calendar dedicated to unearthing local talent.

Recent graduate Zoe O’Sullivan supported Gold Coast band Neem making for a relaxing Sunday afternoon at the ADCO Amphitheatre, the final act to what was a spectacular Homecoming Weekend.

“We produce graduates who are leaders and thinkers, imbued with initiative and the spirit of free enterprise."

4 www.arch.bond.edu.au

W I N T E R 2 0 1 5

ALUMNI Awards, held in the Princeton Room, set the pace for Homecoming Weekend and the standard for another year of high-achieving at Bond and beyond.

Bond University Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford and Executive Director of Alumni and Development Brett Walker led the celebration and recognition of dynamic and diverse alumni - some at the height of their careers, others just starting out. The audience included members of the Gold Coast City Council and Bond University Council, and distinguished guests of the University, including Emeritus Professor Robert Stable.

Bachelor of Laws and Information Technology alumna Fiona de Jong, who is currently CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, was awarded the Robert Stable Alumni Medal. The Alumni Award for Exceptional Community Achievement went to Bachelor of Commerce alumnus and CEO and President of Ferrari Australasia Herbert Appleroth, while recent Bachelor and Master of Laws graduate Matthew McLean took out the Alumni Student Award.

AlumniAWARDS

HOMECOMING

5www.arch.bond.edu.au

AS CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, Fiona de Jong is far more accustomed giving lustrous accolades in her line of work than receiving them.

In the context of her career, and given her early ambitions to compete for Australia at an elite sporting level, de Jong’s response to taking out Bond University’s most prestigious alumni award, the Robert Stable Medal, is understandable.

She says it’s an honour akin to winning gold at the Olympics.

De Jong, who grew up in Brisbane with a love of swimming in creeks and riding BMX bikes, is the first woman to have received the award which recognises the highest achievements by Bond alumni.

She first arrived at Bond in Semester 923 to pursue her passion for a unique kind of Law at the time, Information Technology, a progressive choice considering the internet was still in its infancy. It was soon after that de Jong found new inspiration that eventually became a lifelong love affair with triathlon.

She says Bond afforded her an opportunity to focus equally on her vastly different passions of law and sport through an understanding that this would provide the most solid foundations for a life of leadership.

Following a strict daily regimen of “six hours learning, six hours studying, six hours training and six hours sleeping” during her time at Bond, de Jong is proof that diligence delivers results.

“Bond let me pursue a dream that very few individuals have the opportunity to do, and if I studied at any other institution, I genuinely believe I wouldn’t have achieved them,” says de Jong.

“Where other people zig, Bond encourages its community to zag, and that’s what we need to create really strong and bold leaders going forward.

“It took a high degree of support and flexibility from teachers and friends, embedded into a strict regime, to achieve my goals of graduating Law with Honours and representing Australia in triathlon.

“Despite coming out of my final Law exam and vowing to never study again, with the passage of time and experience in the workforce I have come to value education and what it enables you to do.”

Enabled and empowered, de Jong is now focused on passing the baton to other young people, and particularly hopes to be a role model for young athletes by demonstrating there are strong career opportunities after sport.

“One of the challenges we have in Australia with our athletes is they may not believe they can have a duality of careers,” says de Jong.

"Having walked that path, I know that it is tough, but more athletes need to know you can do both, and keeping a healthy body means you have a healthy mind.

"I would strategically choose my subjects around triathlon, so in winter when there were no races I would take the harder subjects and in summer the easier ones. However, I quickly realised that when I was in heavy training, I actually studied better.”

De Jong’s classmates, some of whom converged on campus for Homecoming Week in May, reflected on her time as a Bond student and as a career professional – describing her both then and now as ambitious with a preference for life as a balancing act.

Alessandro, her infant son, is the latest addition to this act, with de Jong citing his existence as ‘unequivocally the most extraordinary accomplishment I have achieved’ and not at all stopping her in her tracks.

“Much was said at the time I was appointed to my role about being the first female CEO in our 120-year history,” says de Jong.

“There is nothing special about me. I am the product of a generation that has had every opportunity my brother did. I simply walked through the doors of opportunity when they opened.

“I haven’t experienced being a woman as particularly significant or insignificant in my career, which in itself is an accomplishment for women.”

In true athletic form, de Jong believes time management is often the basis for success, and ‘there is no better place than university’ to learn such a skill.

“If I could envision a roadmap by which young future leaders could live a rich and rewarding career, it would be one that marries a very good education with a few really wise choices in life,” she says.

"Blessed with so many opportunities in a country like ours, it's a question of which ones you really want to take. There are no shortcuts in achieving - it takes true discipline and hard work.

"I'm also a big believer in pursuing what you love and not letting anyone contain your dream. If at first you don’t find your career passion, don’t settle or let people pigeon-hole you. Continue to discover until you find that really unique combination that sets you apart.”

GREATER THAN


WINTER 2015

HOMECOMING

"Blessed with so many opportunities in a

country like ours, it's a question of which

ones you really want to take. There are

no shortcuts in achieving - it takes true

discipline and hardwork."


Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford with Herbert Appleroth


WINTER 2015

AS THE CEO and President of Ferrari Asia-Pacific, Herbert Appleroth is accustomed to living life in the fast lane.

He quickly climbed the corporate ladder after graduating with a Bond University Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 1995, becoming General Manager of Ferrari and Maserati Australia at the age of 26 and later moving to Italy to take on the role of Global Marketing Director of the company.

Appleroth’s corporate resume is long and enviable, but his community involvement sets him apart even more to earn him the 2015 Bond University Alumni Award for Exceptional Community Achievement.

When devastation struck Japan in 2011, Appleroth moved faster than ever.

Living in Tokyo at the time, Appleroth visited the town of Ishinomaki with the Italian Ambassador to Japan in the immediate aftermath of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Ishinomaki was one of the most devastated areas, with the natural disaster reportedly levelling 80 per cent of its houses and around 50 per cent of the town.

Many schools were completely destroyed, such as Ishinomaki Okawa Elementary School which lost more than 65 per cent of its students and staff.

“Ishinomaki had the greatest casualty rate of any city in the disaster zone,” says Appleroth.

“The scene was absolutely horrific.”

With the backing of Ferrari, Appleroth met with the Governor of Miyagi Prefecture and the Mayor of Ishinomaki to discuss ways to assist.

“I thought we needed to do more than the common practice of simply donating money to charity, knowing that often donations are lost in administration,” says Appleroth.

“I wanted to invest directly in the city, and my other requirement was for our support to benefit children, so together we devised a plan and agreed to directly fund the building of a new school in Ishinomaki.

“It was the first time in the city’s history and among the first in all of Japan that a foreign company invested directly in a local school project.”

Appleroth’s efforts raised more than $1 million, surpassing his goal for Ishinomaki to be able to build not only one school, but two. The schools were officially opened in December 2012.

Appleroth says his passion has always been helping children, and that his wife would often describe him as a big kid himself.

He says he realised this passion even before he realised his dream of working for Ferrari at the age of 13.

“From a very young age I considered myself a lucky egg, and have been fortunate to be blessed with a great family and education and work for an amazing company,” says Appleroth.

“The first time I went into a cancer ward and saw the kids and the look in their eyes, it was a defining moment for me. I just knew I had to dedicate a sum of my career to helping them.

“I was always aware it was my role to equalise the ledger and balance out my luck of birth with paying back to those less fortunate.”

Prior to Appleroth’s work in Ishinomaki, he took a two-year sabbatical from his corporate responsibilities in 2008 and became a board member of the Oncology Children’s Foundation, now the Kids Cancer Project.

He funded clinical trials for a new anti-cytoskeletal drug focused on brain tumours, oversaw the development of an international Research Advisory Committee and created the first Australian co-ordinated group of research units, C4, which was sponsored by the NSW Ministry of Health to allow funding for the sharing of cancer research.

This provided a strong learning curve for Appleroth, who was able to consolidate a life-long passion and corporate experience.

Already equipped to deal with both long

and short-term orientated cultures, from years working in Italy and Asia, Appleroth applied this knowledge to his role.

“We restructured the management and board team to create efficiencies and strong compliance so as to build the public’s trust in the organisation,” says Appleroth.

“My experience running a charity opened my eyes to how other charities are run from an administration viewpoint and, like in the corporate world, there are always better ways to get the biggest bang for buck and help those in need more quickly.

“Everyone has good intentions in charity board work, but often these good intentions can actually hinder the charity progress.

“The biggest lesson I have learnt is that, unlike a corporate structure, everyone on a charity board is equal, but there isn’t always a natural organisational structure.

“This tends to mean more time is required for discussion and contemplation, rather than doing. Patience is absolutely vital.”

Appleroth says with the work ethic and time-management skills that come with a good education, there is no reason most of us can’t lend a hand to important causes.

“At Bond you learn the art of performance and working hard, and it’s in those first few years out that you can make the biggest difference in your career.

“There are people who essentially can’t give, and still do, so my challenge to young people on the way up is they are in privileged positions to make a difference and should do so.

“Roll up your sleeves, work from the front and show true leadership – don’t point fingers, instead show others how it can be done.

“The most valuable thing you can give to causes is not money, but time, which is really the most valuable thing you can provide to anything you want to achieve in life.”

CULTURE OF GIVING BACK

HOMECOMING


MATTHEW McLean’s can-do attitude is palpable.

The 23-year-old winner of the 2015 Bond University Alumni Student Award was once the driving force of the Bond student body, he was a founding leader of the Bond in Africa project and recipient of the Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award.

McLean describes the first Bond graduates as ‘pathfinders’ who took a risk on the then fledgling University, but the recent Bachelor and Master of Laws graduate is no less a pathfinder than those who have gone before him.

He had his first break as a 17-year-old fresh out of school, helping in the electorate office for a Member of Parliament in Newcastle. He already had an Australian Defence Force Long Tan Leadership and Teamwork Award and school captaincy behind him.

These experiences revealed a passion for policy and leadership, before he was fortuitously guided to Bond.

“Truth be told, I had no intention of

coming to Bond, but when I entered under the arch for the first time and walked the thinking stairs, it was pretty hard to say no,” says McLean.

“There was also a crystallising moment when Mr Alan Finch, the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Students and Academic Support, who I consider the de facto father of our student body, spoke at our scholarship commencement dinner.

“He concluded his speech by saying, ‘I trust you have enjoyed your brief stay at Bond and I hope you would consider making it a longer one’ – and had me absolutely sold.”

McLean accepted a Bond University Vice-Chancellor’s Elite Scholarship in 2010, recognised for what was already a wealth of leadership, academic, community and extra-curricular achievements.

Nevertheless, he was quick to set an even higher standard for himself and others.

He soon assumed positions of Chair and Councillor of the Education and Academic Affairs Council, Vice-President (Education)

of the Bond University Student Association, which later evolved into a Presidency, and balanced this with media and electorate roles for the Queensland Government Whip and State Member for Albert.

From 2012, McLean also held research positions within the Bond University Office for Quality, Teaching and Learning and the Centre for Law, Governance and Public Policy.

This work both afforded McLean a Bond University Contribution to Teaching and Learning Award and informed his career direction.

“Through my legal research role, I came in contact with the National Disability Insurance Scheme which was then being developed by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

“It was my first experience with social policy on a government level and I knew full well after that I wanted to take a role in Canberra and work in the area of public policy.”

DRIVE FOR SUCCESS

Matthew McLean


WINTER 2015

ENTREPRENEURSHIP and leadership were the hot topics up for discussion at Bond University Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr Baden U’Ren’s Alumni Professional Development Workshop. Assistant Professor U’Ren workshopped the topics with students and alumni at the complimentary professional development session, and also explored how to drive creativity and innovation in their workplace.

Alumni professional development workshop

ALUMNI leaders converged on campus as part of the 2015 Homecoming celebrations.

The inaugural Alumni Leaders Forum brought together leaders from the Alumni Advisory Board, Alumni Committees and Bond University Limited.

Alumni members were invited back to learn about the strategic direction of

the University and the Alumni and Development Office, particularly how the two could work together to engage and reconnect with the alumni community through programs in the coming year.

Members of the groups graduated from Bond at various points in time, making this gathering an invaluable first opportunity for diverse leaders to meet in person.

McLean, who achieved the highest academic honours for both his degrees and made Valedictorian for the graduating class of February 2014, recounts many highlights of his university experience, which he regards as a ‘gift that keeps on giving’.

A hallmark was being a founding leader of the philanthropic Bond in Africa project, but he says he can’t discount the day-to-day highlights.

“You can better see the forest from the trees with time and distance, and with that said, my affinity with Bond is only continuing to grow,” says McLean.

“Studying Law was the greatest entrée to the legal world, learning from some of the brightest minds in the country who were leading some of the brightest up-and-coming lawyers.

“Although I don’t practice law on a day-to-day basis, the analytical framework I learnt during my studies informs the work I do and advice I deliver to government in a policy sense.

“The social side at Bond was also unparalleled, and I felt like I met a new friendship group every day. I think community is the greatest strength of the University as it’s not so small to lack diversity but not so large to lose intimacy.

“My experience was unreal and unparalleled in so many ways, but the most unique thing about it is that it’s not uncommon.”

With youth and talent on his side, McLean still feels he has much to achieve, adding that ‘ambition is a disease in any man’.

However, he can quickly pinpoint a career highlight already, within his current position with the strategy division of the Department of Social Services.

“The highlight of my career so far is working on the McClure Review of Australia’s social security system,” says McLean.

“As a recent graduate, I was fortunate enough to take a role on the taskforce supporting that review, and am using the analytical framework I learnt throughout my education to assist in redesigning Australia’s welfare system and redevelop our payments architecture.”

McLean says his greatest advice to other alumni is work hard to be an ambassador of the University.

“Bond’s success is determined by the breadth, depth and ultimate value of its alumni base,” he says.

“To maintain the currency of degrees and premium of the product, as alumni we must redouble our efforts, reach high and lead from the front.”

Alumnileaders forum

HOMECOMING

L-R Front: Nicole Kelly (041), Henry Norris (081),

Peta Fielding (892), Derek Cronin (892), Jacqui Ward (092)

L-R Back: Rohan Titus (913), Alex Sceales (952), James Browning (062),

Michael O’Meara (071), Jerome Rault (102), Julius Brookman (951)


BOND’S UNFAIR

FRIENDS, Romans, Countrymen – lend me your ears. The Unfair Advantage is a small bowl of rich and flavoursome homemade soup.

This may be a Toga speech attention-getter that would hopefully go down well under the Arch and in the books of Assistant Professor Mike Grenby from Bond University's Faculty of Society and Design.

Grenby’s Public Speaking 101 course may now go by a different name and take a new shape, condensed from a semester-long subject into a four-week workshop, but the same hallmarks remain.

Grenby says The Unfair Advantage workshop, officially launched in Semester 151, incorporates 'all of the best bits' of Public Speaking’s 16-year tenure as it falls into the newly created Beyond Bond core curriculum.

“Condensing the subject into a workshop has been like making a really good soup,” says Grenby, who has received an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.

“The original ingredients are the same, but because they have been infusing in the bowl for longer, there is less water when we take them out but a more concentrated flavour.

“The workshop features all of the old subject’s highlights, like the icebreaking bashing of the barstool, the Goody Box Impromptu speech – and, of course, the iconic Toga speech under the Arch.”

Grenby says it has been a team effort leveraging The Unfair Advantage to where it is today, but campaigning by staff, students and alumni has cemented the course in its most advantageous position yet.

On top of the original favourites, in which 5000 students to date have participated, there are added features such as elevator pitches and an introduction to PechaKucha, a slide presentation format that forces speakers to get to the point.

“It’s a win-win all around, especially for the students,” says Grenby.

“One of the reasons The Unfair Advantage

has been so well received is because it’s offered free and isn’t marked, so students can focus entirely on the learning process, earn 10 Beyond Bond credit points while they are at it, and be up for recognition at the end of the semester if they are one of the most improved students.”

Grenby says the secret is in the structure of the course, which has evolved continuously since Professor Jeffrey Brand of the Faculty of Society and Design conducted original research for a Bond University public speaking subject in 1999.

Grenby introduced Public Speaking 101 into the curriculum soon after. It grew into a labour of love for him and, most recently, fellow teachers Caroline Graham and Krista Mathis (who even wrote a scholarly paper on Communities of Memory: Reflections on toga speeches as collective storymaking), Taryn Mathis, Jan Evans, Pete Meggitt - plus Shilo Brosnan and Jane Buckley, who now have taken key roles in administering and teaching The Unfair Advantage.

Public Speaking 101 was originally a core subject of the Faculty of Humanities and

ADVANTAGE


W I N T E R 2 0 1 5

CAMPUS

Social Sciences which last year became the Faculty of Society and Design. Faculty Executive Dean Raoul Mortley AO supported moving the subject to Beyond Bond, which Executive Director of Alumni and Development, Brett Walker facilitated.

Grenby says the new workshop delivers the same outcomes that saw the old subject recognised by the Harvard Business Review, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics over the years, and to that it aligns perfectly with the Beyond Bond mission.

THE UNIVERSITY’S commitment to delivering prepared graduates is being backed by a new program that helps students realise their career ambitions.

Industry leaders are again lining up to take a group of Bond students under their wings in a blossoming program designed to help them chart a roadmap to career success.

The Vice-Chancellor Scholars Mentorship Program provides a Vice-Chancellor Scholarship recipient with a rare insight into their chosen field, as well as one-on-one career advice directly from 'the boss’.

The initiative is now in its second year and has been supported by leading executives across a range of industry sectors.

Bond University Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Tim Brailsford says the mentors are at the forefront of their professions, including tourism, media, finance, health and law.

“The guidance and opportunities afforded by this scheme will be invaluable for the students and is part of Bond’s promise on delivering practical, job-ready skills and networking opportunities,” Professor Brailsford says.

“Each of the mentors involve their mentee in a variety of aspects of their business, and for them to take the time in their busy schedules to offer this experience to our students speaks volumes about the commitment and generosity of the mentors.”

Finance student Isabelle Silberling will gain insight into working for a large-scale organisation after being paired with Craig Davidson, the CEO of Dreamworld, Whitewater World and SkyPoint.

“Mr Davidson has already given some great advice about being open to opportunities because you never know where they will take you; where you end up working may not be what you had originally envisaged,” Silberling says.

“He is going to be a great mentor and is a really nice guy who will steer me in the right direction.”

Davidson says he has found the program to be mutually beneficial, and looks forward to mentoring Silberling during the next 12 months.

“Gaining experience in the real world and understanding the real issues businesses face when you hit the ground as a graduate will immediately give you a step up on the path to success,” he says.

“It is critical to reinvest our time and I see it as time well invested.”

Southern Cross Austereo General Manager Nick Scott was also eager to share his expertise in the media industry with Journalism student Luke Ireland.

“It’s so important for students to keep it real, that’s why I think this is such a worthwhile program,” Scott says.

“From my experience, you don't always end up in the field you expect. I studied psychology and geology, and ended up in a career in media, so for students to have the opportunity to link their studies to the real world is invaluable.”

Ireland has been given the opportunity to experience all facets of radio production, including news, sales, engineering, research and accounting.

In addition to being exposed to corporate networks, he says Scott has given advice about useful subject electives for the future.

“Not many people get the opportunity to see the inside of how a company like SCA works in their first year of university, as well as have guidance from one of the top bosses in the business who also happens to be a top bloke,” Ireland says.

“Ideally, I would love to have Nick’s job one day, so there’s no one in the industry better suited to help me get there.”

Other mentors involved in the program include Pindara Private Hospital CEO Trish Hogan, Technigro founder Nick Bloor, Morgans Financial Client Advisor Lynda Woods and Designer Keri Craig-Lee.

INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS

Career Development Centre's Kirsty Mitchell felt “Beyond Bond was the natural place to move the course when the core curriculum was reorganised as there is no doubt The Unfair Advantage enhances employability,” says Grenby.

“Employers have always told us students need to have three things: reasoning, writing and public speaking skills.

“From childhood until the day you die, you are giving talks to anywhere between two and 2000 people, and if you can’t speak competently and confidently, then you will never get anywhere.”


AS BOND University Film and Television Awards (BUFTA) rolls into its 20th year, Director of Film and Television Associate Professor Dr Michael Sergi says the team is preparing ‘something special’ to mark the anniversary.

However, true to his filmmaking roots, Sergi wants to maintain the element of surprise until the awards ceremony in November. If the growth of the awards are any indication, the local and international film and television industry is in for a treat.

“A few years ago we started broadcasting live over the internet because of strong demand and now we have people watching from all over the world,” says Sergi.

“It’s a glossy event – a television and high-quality awards ceremony - and there is nothing like this offered by any other university in Australia, perhaps even around the world.

“The number of high school students entering best demonstrates the appeal. Five years ago we had around 70 entries and now we get well over 200.”

In 2008, the awards grew out of a lecture theatre and moved into a transformed Princeton Room.

Over the past two years they have been emceed by Academy Award winner Adam Elliot.

“Adam committed to BUFTA as his only professional speaking engagement for the entire year last year while he was in the middle of making another film, which I think is testament to the value these awards bring to the industry,” says Sergi.

“BUFTA has a huge impact on the lives of students whose films go through to the final rounds and really kickstarts their careers at such a young age.

Move over Oscars, Bond’s answer to the movie industry’s peak awards is preparing for its biggest performance yet.

FOR A RICH FILM HISTORYMilestone


WINTER 2015

MilestoneFEATURE

“Likewise, it has a tremendous impact on Film and Television students who help pull the show together. It’s a serious undertaking and extraordinary to go from never having done television beforehand to putting on a massive broadcast event like BUFTA 10 weeks later.”

Sergi has been coordinating BUFTA for the past 14 years. In recent years, he has been increasingly ushering BUFTA’s digital evolution and steering Australia-wide roadshows to spread the good word.

“BUFTA was relatively modest for its first decade and mostly seen as a way of encouraging production at a time when there was very little of that in Australia,” he says.

“Now that production is heating up locally and BUFTA has cemented its place on the circuit, we are being invited to speak at schools all around Australia - this year already in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – about how to make strong BUFTA films.”

BUFTA also has been inspired by talented alumni, with winners in recent years going on to work on major blockbusters and win big at industry favourites such as Cannes Lions Festival.

London-based Eric So, the 2006 BUFTA Overall Winner, has an impressive resume even by Hollywood standards.

As a stereo compositor, his work only four years post-graduation has included Captain America, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Happy Feet Two, Prometheus and The Great Gatsby.

Another BUFTA Overall Winner, Matthew Thorne, has seen his short films, music videos and television commercials win awards around the world.

Thorne won the Young Director Award at Cannes Lions Festival last year for his short film Where Do Lilacs Come From, the pinnacle after scoring wins at other events including St Kilda Film Festival and 30 Under 30 Film Festival in the US.

BUFTA winners seem to find a way of connecting with some of the biggest companies in the world, as 2007 BUFTA Overall Winner and Melbourne videographer James Base has done with Red Bull. Base is also the official videographer for The Cat Empire, and currently making the band's documentary.

Dr Michael Sergi says BUFTA is a year-long project, where the awards wrap up late November for the core team of six to get a break over Christmas and then begin all over again in January.

In the months leading up to the awards night, Sergi’s team recruits contractors and additional staff, as well as a large cohort of Bond University Film and Television students to help deliver a blockbuster production.

“The challenge is putting on a major and broadcasted film and television awards event from within a university, as universities traditionally aren’t geared up to do something like this,” says Sergi.

“It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on an event of this calibre in the ‘real world’.

“We are a very high-achieving group of people though, working and learning at an equally high-achieving institution. The awards unfold each year as a total labour of love for all of us involved and it just wouldn’t work otherwise.”

Guest presenter Adam Elliot

2014 BUFTA Overall Winner Thomas Evans


DESPITE riding the highs and lows of the shipping industry for four decades, and a textured career as a salesman, translator and broadcaster preluding this, Alan Chan’s experiences haven’t moulded him into your typical high-flying businessman.

In his demeanour, the Singapore-based Chan espouses modesty and eschews showiness, elaborate displays of wealth and personal standing.

Chinese by birth, British by immigration, Japanese through military conquest, Malaysian by merger and Singaporean by independence, Chan takes a globalised view of the world.

He believes that each corner can derive some benefit from another, and likewise, good business will benefit all parties involved.

It’s a Confucian approach to life, something that Chan is trying to impress upon the youth of today.

“In 1988, there was a meeting of Nobel laureates in Rome and they said if human beings were to survive in the 21st century, they have to go back 25 centuries and consider the wisdom of Confucius,” says Chan.

“This couldn’t be truer and, in my opinion, Confucianism is a treasure to all of humanity.”

Chan formally applied himself to Confucianism later in life, as he did with business too.

He took his time to rise to the top in business, striking out in his own at the age of 38 and founding a small tanker shipping company from scratch.

This mirrors his belief in waiting for things to take their course, contrasting the Western philosophy that you can fast-track a solution.

It took more than a decade for Chan to establish his shipping company, Petroships, and another decade for it to grow. Chan sold it at the height of the market in 2007.

“Selling my business at the height of the market after four decades was full of heartache, although I wanted to avoid being punished by the market, and could see the pressures were looming large,” Chan says.

The following year, the market crashed and still it hasn’t recovered fully.

“A broad perspective is very important in a world of international complexity and high technology, otherwise you don’t see things as they are,” says Chan.

“I always tell students the most important thing in business is foresight – visualising things in the future and acting accordingly.”

His Eastern upbringing had more of an impact on Chan than he once thought, and it was only when looking back that Chan realised he had been navigating the cutthroat shipping industry through Confucian conduct.

Chan says he has always charted the waters with a broad perspective, tolerance and patience in check, and by assessing all matters with great depth.

“Entrepreneurship and business is often taught as being quite merciless and predatory. Sometimes these techniques seem useful, but I think entrepreneurship thrives under more moderate conditions of harmony, credibility, trustworthiness and cooperation.

“As the saying goes, virtue is not alone and is bound to attract companionship.”

Chan says his approach to business goes hand in hand with the core Confucian teachings of humaneness, righteousness, good conduct, wisdom and credibility, which he always subconsciously followed and which the Chinese community practices in varying degrees.

“My order of understanding Confucianism wasn’t by prior study, but by later realisation and by reviewing my own style of always living life in a decent manner,” he says.

WHERE EAST MEETS WEST


WINTER 2015

Now Confucianism is Chan’s lifeblood and, in his opinion, one of the most effective methods of spreading the message is working with universities such as Bond.

“Education is the most effective and productive investment to me because the returns have a true ripple effect,” says Chan.

“Universities are the place to spread ideas. You promote the ability and quality of the people through education, which I should know because I have proceeded from Third World to First World in the short space of a few decades due to my education.”

Chan is currently encouraging the growth of the Bond University Centre for East-West Cultural and Economic Studies through his philanthropic support, while expanding its focus on Confucian studies.

Chan’s passion for East-West relations was cultivated in his early career, when he worked in Singapore as a translator and bilingual broadcaster.

His curiosity for words these days, in his semi-retirement, is being applied to translating and distilling the core teachings of Confucius into a small booklet where his approach is ‘to be comprehensible, not comprehensive’.

“My number one goal is to spread the Confucian doctrines to Western and

Oriental people, which is quite a mission,” says Chan.

“It hasn’t been done successfully in the past because people try and put across the whole thing, but I only want to showcase teachings that are relevant to the modern world.”

Chan visits Bond at least once a year to lend his support to East-West studies, recently coming for the Confucianism and Modern Society International Symposium, and also occasionally teaching a personal case study on piracy to postgraduate International Trade students.

Bond University Faculty of Society and Design Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Raoul Mortley says Chan’s support adds to the strength of Bond’s reputation and consolidates its position in Eastern studies.

“Alan’s support and confidence in Bond adds depth to the University being Asia-facing,” says Mortley.

“He has a specific profile in Singapore, Malaysia, China, and also with UNESCO, so it means a lot for the University that he is very willing to show his association,” he says.

Chan believes consciousness is being elevated globally to better welcome

Confucianism and, where it isn’t, the ethics and values of the

philosophy are much warranted.

As China roars into global leadership, Chan believes it’s increasingly important to understand the societal values and culture of the Chinese

to maintain healthy economic and trade

relationships. His view is that Confucianism is a useful

supplement to business markets across the world.

“Confucian culture has an enormous contribution to make to modern China and the West,” says Chan. “It adds an intellectual depth to the way we understand cultures and power, which is absolutely necessary in today’s world.”

FEATURE

"Education is the most effective

and productive investment to

me because the returns have a

true ripple effect.”


PAVING PATHWAYS TO THE ARTS

WHEN Patrick met Sally it was immediately a marriage of two very different worlds, although both were united by the same passion.

The friendship between Bond University donor and art patron Dr Patrick Corrigan AM and Indigenous Australian artist Sally Gabori was instantly dynamic, much like Gabori’s works depicting her rich heritage and history.

Through Corrigan and his wife Barbara’s generosity, Bond is the beneficiary of many of these pieces, which will co-exist with what is already Australia’s largest private collection of Aboriginal art on public display.

Corrigan has donated the lion’s share of this collection. As Bond University Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Brailsford says, “Whenever we have blank walls, Pat seems to step in and want to fill them.”

Fittingly, and speaking to the University’s global vision, the book Gabori: The Sally Gabori Collection of Patrick Corrigan was recently launched at Bond in the Abedian School of Architecture.

Professor Brailsford sums up the concept of displaying Gabori’s collection in a building that was designed in the UK, engineered in Germany and built by local company

ADCO Constructions as a ‘masterstroke’.

Authored by Djon Mundine and published by Corrigan, who also owns boutique Newtown bookstore Better Read Than Dead, Gabori’s 192-page book features a broad selection of her works, all painted within a period of five years.

The editor, Candida Baker, says the book speaks volumes about the Australian experience, and serves as a memento to be passed down for generations to come.

“It is said by Djon in the book that ‘great art speaks not only of its creation, but also to the timeless heart of human nature’ and I don’t think this could be more true of Sally’s work,” says Baker.

“Sally captures the beauty of Australia’s landscape as she teaches us about her husband’s country, family’s country and her country.

“She lived through so much – full separation from her homeland, the passing of several children, and the death of her beloved husband – yet when she put paint on canvas, it was as if only the purest light of her memories remained.

“We are all aware of the ongoing difficulties faced by indigenous communities in Australia, including the loss

PAST AND PRESENTA tale of elders

of land and languages, and we are seeing a disconnect between younger indigenous Australians that sees them isolated from their beautiful culture.

“Art is one way to bridge that gap and become a catalyst for change in these communities.”

Baker says Corrigan’s ‘memory prowess and strict attention to detail’ meant not one thing went amiss in the book and the design values were held in the highest regard to complement the content.

“Pat has single-handedly done more for arts philanthropy in Australia than any country would have a reasonable right to expect,” she says.

To that, humbly Corrigan deflects the glory and says the real treasure was Gabori’s skill.

“It’s unbelievable that she picked up a brush for the first time at 83 years of age and could paint with such a visceral, heartfelt energy for five years, and then one day just stop,” says Corrigan.

“Somehow, in her late age, Sally suddenly understood how to translate into art the difficult emotional and physical spaces that she had travelled through during her lifetime.”

BOND is the presenting partner of The Arts Centre Gold Coast’s Indigenous program throughout 2015 and 2016, and extending to mid-2017.

Through a synergy with Dr Patrick Corrigan AM, The Arts Centre Gold Coast’s Gallery Chairman and Bond University Indigenous Gala Patron, the local institutions are working together on raising awareness of Australia’s most significant art movement of the 21st century.

Bond University Pro Vice-Chancellor Pathways and

Partnerships Catherine O’Sullivan, says the partnership profiles the shared objective for the future of both Bond and The Arts Centre.

“The alignment cements our commitment to nurturing Indigenous culture and being a thought leader in this space,” says O’Sullivan.

“The Arts Centre’s Indigenous program showcases talented performers and presents relevant discussions and issues that share the importance and value of the culture, something we are very proud to champion.”

O’Sullivan says the partnership also has a tangible effect on students.

“Students are encouraged to engage through work experience and internship placements at The Arts Centre,” she says.

“The value the Gold Coast is placing on growing and diversifying the arts and cultural sector, through initiatives like the Bleach* Festival that Bond is also involved in, facilitates us finding pathways and employment outcomes for our students.”


WINTER 2015

1 2

3

4

5

1. Dr Patrick Corrigan AM with Gabori: The Sally

Gabori Collection of Patrick Corrigan

2. Book launch gathering held in the Abedian

School of Architecture

3. Sally Gabori artwork decorates the walls of

the Abedian School of Architecture

4. Professor Tim Brailsford with Executive

Director Alumni and Development Brett Walker

5. L to R: Mark Ella AM, Dr Manny Pohl, Candida

Baker, Gail Pohl, Dr Patrick Corrigan AM


THE corporate world might not yet have captured the essence of gender equality, but Bond is doing its best to change the

leadership model from the ground up.

Bond hosted the Alliance of

Girls’ Schools Australasia

Leadership Conference earlier this year for the second year in a row, emblematic of its commitment to female

empowerment.

The conference brought together

school captains and leaders from more than

140 schools across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong,

Philippines and the US, with the vision these young women will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Robyn Moore, a communications specialist,

spoke on the power of language to change the world, while Bond alumna, Secretary General of the Australian Olympic Committee and former international triathlete and lawyer Fiona de Jong, highlighted that a diligent approach to life will reap dividends.

A thread of compassion was woven throughout the conference, most prominent when Thankyou Group Co-founder and Managing Director Daniel Flynn and Same Sky founder Francine LeFrak spoke on the rewards of putting others first through social enterprise.

With both having strong ties to the developing world, the speakers embodied Bond’s Pathways and Partnerships mission of reaching out to important causes on a global scale.

Flynn has funded safe water, health, hygiene and food solutions for hundreds of thousands of people, while LeFrak is giving artisans a ‘hand up, not a handout’.

Bond University Pro Vice-Chancellor Pathways and Partnerships Catherine O’Sullivan says the speakers were most

Empowering forEXCELLENCE

The path to success may be fraught with gender bias, but inspirational tales of compassion and triumph at Bond highlight the power within to change the world


WINTER 2015

COMMUNITY

inspiring in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship and corporate governance.

“To have such speakers at Bond, sharing their experiences with students who have displayed exemplary leadership qualities, will no doubt empower the next generation of female achievers to follow their dreams and have a positive impact,” says O’Sullivan.

The conference marked the first time LeFrak had visited Bond, strengthening the University’s partnership as Same Sky’s first institutional partner, which was announced on International Women’s Day last year.

Bond is now working with leading young women in its community to spread the ‘hand up’ philosophy. This includes former Bond University Student Association (BUSA) President Melanie Hayden, who undertook the first Same Sky university internship at its headquarters in New York late last year.

“Same Sky shows that anything is possible when you capture the hearts and minds of people, which is what we are trying to encourage at Bond,” says O’Sullivan.

“We are delighted to join Francine and the global community of Same Sky ambassadors, celebrities and supporters in championing a needful and much stronger global conversation about Rwanda, the empowerment of women, the importance of giving, sustainable enterprise and the issues of poverty, conflict, health and education.”

LeFrak, a multiple Tony, Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer of social issue films, fortuitously fell into venture philanthropy. After spending eight-and-a-half years developing a film script on the Rwandan genocide of 1994, she hit a roadblock when Hotel Rwanda was released and Hollywood wasn’t interested in producing another film on the subject.

“When you truly believe in something, no matter what obstacle is in your way, you feel like you just have to go forward,” says LeFrak.

“I was in so deep at that point that there was no turning back.”

At the deep end were 250,000 Rwandan women left desolate and hopeless after being raped during the genocide, with 70 per cent of these women estimated by the United Nations to have contracted HIV.

“These women were so poor that they couldn’t even eat consistently, let alone take the medicine that was being provided,” says LeFrak. “They were just preparing for their death.”

LeFrak felt compelled to take her passion one step further.

“Countries that receive aid are statistically worse off, so I got this idea to give the women that had been left behind a job – a hand-up, not a handout,” says LeFrak.

“Friends always said I had a good eye for jewellery, so I came up with this idea to employ women to crochet jewellery.”

Since 2008, Same Sky jewellery has been acting as a ribbon to the cause of eradicating extreme poverty by promoting a marketplace for the ethical shopping movement.

Artisans in Rwanda and the US, where 45 million live below the poverty line, create jewellery for remuneration of the selling price. This can pay for one year’s healthcare, school fees or access to clean water.

“By creating jobs you give dignity and hope, grant opportunity across multiple dimensions in life, and help unveil talents as you promote an avenue for self-expression,” says LeFrak.

LeFrak notes that one of the Rwandan artisans who was gang raped in the genocide and couldn’t speak when they met now leads other women.

Another’s HIV numbers have changed so dramatically since she started working that in the past year she gave birth to a HIV-free baby.

LeFrak says Same Sky’s message is transferrable to women working in any field, in any part of the world.

“I believe so much in the power of women working in collectives, whether that’s the artisans in Rwanda, women in halfway houses in America, or girls coming together for greater causes at schools and universities.

“Working in collectives gives women the most incredible ability to empower one another.”

Same Sky

Artisan

crocheting

at Avega

Same Sky

Artisan and

jewellery


INTERNATIONAL Relations and Communications alumna Ashleigh Peplow Ball is a big believer in focusing on the little wins in life.

When the challenges she faces working in international aid seem too big to overcome, she tries to smother the thought and turn her attention to the difference something small can make.

“When you are out there helping a developing community, it can become overwhelming and you start thinking of the other millions of people that don’t have access to healthcare,” says Peplow Ball.

“That thinking doesn’t help anything though, so you need to remember that big changes are always made up of lots and lots of little actions.

“Forty years ago diseases like polio were crippling developing nations and now babies can be vaccinated with a single drop. These things make you think where we will be in another 40 years considering the speed of change these days.”

Peplow Ball learnt to live by that sentiment and with that hope while working in Uganda last year for American-based NGO Mama Hope. She was the first Australian to be awarded Mama Hope’s Global Advocate Fellowship, a leadership program for international development workers.

During her three-month Ugandan tenure post-graduation last year, Peplow Ball served as the Project Manager of the Suubi Health Centre in Budundo, Uganda.

THE REWARDING

ROADThe Centre is intended to be self-sustaining over time from income generated through the local community centre, construction of which also wrapped up during Peplow Ball’s trip.

In addition to overseeing the construction of the centre, a large portion of Peplow Ball’s work was relationship-based, centred on inspiring positive dialogue around healthcare in a traditionally resistant community.

Peplow Ball says the experience reaffirmed her passion for women’s empowerment, peacekeeping and sustainable development, as well as the importance of targeted and transparent fundraising activities. She raised $30,000 for her Ugandan project before leaving Australia, and discovered her network was


WINTER 2015

the direct impact their donations can have instead.”

Twenty-five babies were born at Suubi while Peplow Ball lived in Budundo, with a number of these born from complicated labours that may have been unlikely without the Centre.

“I would have very difficult days where I was in and out of meetings with politicians and trying to access anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-positive women, then I would return to town for the Suubi staff to run out and tell me a baby had been born and it was like all my worries disappeared for a moment,” says Peplow Ball.

Peplow Ball says she still feels as though she has one foot in the community and another in her current location of

Melbourne, where she recently began working for

Engineers Without Borders.

She says it’s an exciting time

for social enterprise in Australia though, as a shift is taking place from pure fundraising

towards developing

innovative and sustainable

businesses around issues instead.

“I’m a month into my job at Engineers Without Borders, working in humanitarian engineering for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities here and in South East Asia, bridging gaps when it comes to things like water, shelter, hygiene and energy, which is very much in line with my interests and what I was doing in Uganda,” says Peplow Ball.

“While it sometimes feels unsustainable, I’m thankful to be passionate about a really long list of things, and still speak to my local Ugandan family and project partners every week to find out how I can keep helping.

“I achieved more than I thought I would over there in terms of scope, but these aren’t projects you can just step away from easily.”

increasingly willing to donate when they saw their funds translate into meaning.

“The Suubi staff had flagged with me that women having complications during labour might not be able to walk to the Health Centre, and putting them on the back of a normal motorbike could lead to a miscarriage,” says Peplow Ball.

“We found a company in Uganda that made motorbike ambulance pods and people back home couldn’t jump on the cause fast enough. It took only three days to raise $3000 on a crowdfunding platform for a motorbike ambulance which is now a key component of the community.

Experiences like this definitely gave me a fresh outlook on fundraising. It's not about begging for money, but showing people

...big changes are always made up of lots and lots of little actions.

Suubi's new motorbike ambulance
